Theranos presented new products to scientists who were expecting data — and it didn't go over well

Theranos CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes (second from right) speaks on a Q&A panel at the AACC conference.
AACC/YouTube
At Theranos' first presentation at a scientific conference, the information that was shared felt more like a product reveal than a discussion of the data that would help validate the company's blood-testing system.

The presentation, part of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry conference, took place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center's ballroom, which was packed to capacity.

In it, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes demonstrated the company's new blood-testing products in development, including a new processor called the miniLab (the technology that can run small amounts of blood — past versions were referred to as "Edison") and the Theranos Virtual Analyzer.

They're Theranos' latest attempt to do what Holmes calls a "decentralized" lab, meaning that you can process the test without necessarily shipping it off to a brick-and-mortar lab.

Here's what the miniLab looks like:

Lydia Ramsey

But those expecting to see large sets of independently reviewed data were sorely disappointed by the product reveal.

Regarding Theranos' broad claims of being able to run 70-plus tests on a single drop of blood, moderator Stephen Master told Holmes, "The evidence you presented fell far short of that."

The comment was met with applause from the audience. A few other critical questions of Theranos' blood-testing data also garnered applause.

Those live-tweeting during the event didn't seem too pleased, either:

Some on Twitter, however, did seem to be a bit more willing to be patient:

Now that the new technology has been unveiled, the next step appears to be to wait until there can be full data to back it up. Holmes said in the presentation that the company plans to submit data for peer review and FDA approval on this new technology, but didn't give a firm timeline for when that would all come to fruition.